Stephenson's Rocket. CO₂ emitted in the 19th century still lingers in the atmosphere today.

In my nearly thirty year career as a photojournalist there has been an omnipresent back ground discourse that has emerged.  Either directly, as an influencing factor on the story at hand, or during the general discussions when my work had stopped and cameras were put away.

These exchanges usually started along the lines of,  “what is happening to our weather ?” .

Since the 1980s the climate science consensus from NASA and other metrological watchers was clear.  Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, driven by fossil-fuel burning, was disrupting Earth’s energy balance. News articles featured scientists warning of rising temperatures, shifting weather patterns, melting ice, and the destabilisation of ecosystems. These were not activist claims but peer-reviewed findings emerging from decades of climate research. With this mounting evidence, the discourse I encountered and read about were largely apolitical and when I entered the media world, in the early 1990’s, man-made climate change was fairly well accepted in the ‘main stream’. Contrast that with today.

Meat and dairy production play a significant role in emissions. 

Few would now recall that Margaret Thatcher, in her own way, was among the first world leaders to address climate change with seriousness. In a landmark speech to the Royal Society in September 1988, she declared that “the health of our planet is at stake,” urging scientists to explain the importance of their work, and warning that human activity was altering the environment “in damaging and dangerous ways”.

By November 1989, at the United Nations General Assembly Thatcher identified the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion as existential threats, calling for a “vast international, co-operative effort,” and promoted nuclear power as “the most environmentally safe form of energy” amid criticism from within her own party and from environmentalists alike.

Thatcher’s journey, from free-market icon to climate realist, was rooted in her scientific training. But if she were alive today, would she hold to these views in the face of rising right-wing populism, or would she temper them to avoid alienating factions opposed to net-zero? The question matters because it speaks to a broader crisis: whether truth still commands loyalty in politics when powerful interests are at stake.

Tick warning sign in Lithuania. Warmer winters have expanded the range of ticks in Europe, including the UK, contributing to rising cases of Lyme disease.

According to NASA, pre-industrial atmospheric CO₂ levels were around 280 ppm. Today, they stand at roughly 421 ppm, an increase of about 50 percent. This is the highest level in at least 14 million years, driven by human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and cement production.

These numbers are not abstract. They are the atmospheric ledger entries of human civilisation, directly linked to the warming of the planet, the intensification of weather extremes, the melting of ice sheets, and the acidification of oceans.

By the late 1980s, oil and gas executives were aware of this science. Internal memos from that era show they had access to projections eerily close to today’s climate reality. Yet rather than sound the alarm, they invested in what has become one of the most effective disinformation campaigns in history: funding contrarian scientists, framing uncertainties as evidence of ignorance, and persuading policymakers that caution was prudent—inaction disguised as reason.

Developing nations have driven most emissions growth, contributing 95 percent of the increase since 2000.

This strategy has evolved. Today, climate skepticism often manifests as “policy skepticism,” conceding the science but insisting that mitigation is too costly or technologically impossible. It is a shift from outright denial to tactical delay. Remember how the tobacco industry tried to shift the narrative when their product and profits came under threat ?

Climate change is cumulative. The CO₂ emitted in the 19th century still lingers in the atmosphere today. High-income countries are responsible for 43 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions since 1850. In 1992, developed nations had contributed around 84 percent of historic emissions.

Global mean sea level has risen between 21 and 24 cm since 1880 eroding shorelines.

By contrast, low-income nations, often on the climate frontlines, have contributed just 3 percent historically. Yet in recent decades, developing nations have driven most emissions growth, contributing 95 percent of the increase since 2000 and accounting for 75 percent of global emissions in 2023. This creates both a moral and practical imperative for wealthier states to lead in reductions while supporting others through finance and technology transfer.

While fossil fuels remain the largest source of emissions, agriculture, particularly meat and dairy production, plays a significant role. The sector contributes around 14.5 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Methane from livestock digestion is a potent short-lived climate pollutant with 80 times the warming potential of CO₂ over 20 years. Nitrous oxide from fertilisers adds further warming.

The Great Cormorant, once largely confined to temperate regions, is moving northwards as sea temperatures rise. This expansion increases predation pressure on fish stocks.

Below; Climate change is a multiplier of existing risks. A helicopter retrieves water from a depleted reservoir to fight moorland fires on Pennine moorland.

Industrial livestock production also drives deforestation, particularly in the Amazon, reducing biodiversity and carbon storage. Shifting to more plant-based diets could cut agricultural emissions by up to 30 percent while easing pressure on land and water resources.

The impacts of climate change extend far beyond temperature graphs. Warmer winters and longer summers have expanded the range of ticks in Europe, including the UK, contributing to rising cases of Lyme disease.

Unsure energy policy have led to energy insecurity. Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station. The site has been mothballed since Hitachi pulled out and is now owned by the UK government.

Coastal systems are also under siege. Global mean sea level has risen between 21 and 24 cm since 1880, with the rate accelerating in the past three decades. In the UK, erosion is already forcing the abandonment of homes in Norfolk and Yorkshire.

Marine biodiversity is also shifting. The Great Cormorant, once largely confined to temperate regions, is moving northwards as sea temperatures rise. This expansion increases predation pressure on fish stocks and places new nesting colonies.

Climate change is a multiplier of existing risks. Droughts, floods, and heatwaves undermine food security and destroy livelihoods, particularly in the Global South. In regions like the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, competition over land and water resources has intensified conflicts, driving displacement. Rising sea levels threaten to displace millions from low-lying coastal nations.

These movements of people, often towards Europe and the UK, can create political tensions, exploited by populist narratives that obscure the climate root causes. In this sense, failing to address climate change fuels both humanitarian crises and domestic political instability.

Movements of people, often towards Europe and the UK, can create political tensions, exploited by populist narratives that obscure the climate root causes.

The transition to renewable energy is not only an environmental necessity but also a geopolitical strategy. Wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal technologies can reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets. The 2022 energy price spikes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine showed the dangers of such dependence. Renewable energy infrastructure offers resilience, job creation, and the prospect of genuine energy sovereignty.

Given their historic emissions and greater capacity, wealthy nations have a responsibility to lead the decarbonisation effort and finance adaptation in vulnerable countries. This is not charity; it is restitution. Failing to act will deepen instability, migration pressures, and conflict.

At the beginning of my career debate was grounded in emerging evidence. Today, it is too often drowned out by the noise of vested interests. CO₂ has risen from 280 ppm to 421 ppm in less than three centuries. The longer the delay, the greater the risk of crossing irreversible thresholds.

Reform Uk conference 2025. Nigel Farage repeatedly attacked net zero policies. He described them as “ridiculous, harmful, and wasteful”.

In 2006, Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ brought climate science into mainstream consciousness. Yet since then, misinformation campaigns have worked to cast doubt, delay action, and protect profits. The petrochemical industry continues to prioritise short-term gains over planetary stability. 

The newly released book ‘Stability and Politicization in Climate Governance’ argues that the debate between stability and politicisation is far more complex than it often is assumed to be. The book argues that the accommodation of economic pragmatism has led to ineffective and laboured change in dealing with the climate crisis. The call for financial stability has become a source of inertia. Rules that are stable but weak, or that preserve existing power relations, often lead to minimal action. Recent comments by opposition leaders in the UK seem to echo these fears. These themes of stability vs politicisation are reflected in current political debates in the UK, especially around the target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Kemi Badenoch described herself as a “net zero sceptic”.

At the 2025 Reform UK party conference, which I covered as a photojournalist, Nigel Farage repeatedly attacked net zero policies. He has described them as “ridiculous, harmful, and wasteful”. Reform UK has pledged to scrap net zero within its first 100 days in power.  

Kemi Badenoch has been more cautious in tone but similarly critical of the net zero by 2050 target. In a March 2025 speech, she declared that “net zero by 2050 is impossible”, arguing that meeting it would require “a significant drop in our living standards or worse, by bankrupting us.” She has described herself as a “net zero sceptic”.

Bringing climate issues into public debate, challenging entrenched power holders, pushing social movements these can shift what is politically possible.

Calls for climate action has often come from the youth or will face the worst effects of the climate crisis.

However,  Dame Jane Goodall has called for the depoliticisation of climate change so that people from all backgrounds can engage with it. She frames environmentalism as a shared human responsibility rather than a partisan issue. Young activists often frame climate as a justice issue , linking it to inequality, intergenerational fairness, and human rights.

The convenient lie is that climate change remains uncertain, that action is too costly, and that delay is harmless. The truth is the opposite. The science is clear, the costs of inaction are catastrophic, and the opportunities for decisive change are within reach. If Margaret Thatcher could speak plainly about climate risk in 1988, we must ask ourselves: what excuse do we have now?

Jane Goodall taking politics out of climate change.

Below; Renewable energy infrastructure offers resilience, job creation, and the prospect of genuine energy sovereignty.

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